Timeline of events leading to the American Civil War
This timeline of events leading up to the American Civil War describes and links to narrative articles and references about many of the events and issues which historians recognize as origins and causes of the Civil War. The pre-Civil War events can be roughly divided into a period encompassing the long term build-up over many decades and a period encompassing the five-month build to war immediately after the election of Abraham Lincoln as President in the Election of 1860 which culminated in the Fall of Fort Sumter (April 1861). Since the early colonial period in Virginia, slavery had been a part of the socioeconomic system of British North America and was recognized in the Thirteen Colonies at the time of the United States' Declaration of Independence (1776). Since then, events and statements by politicians and others brought forth differences, tensions and divisions between the people of the slave states of the Southern United States and the people of the free states of the Northern United States (including Western states) over the topics of slavery. The large underlying issue from which other issues developed was whether slavery should be retained and even expanded to other areas or whether it should be contained and eventually abolished. Over many decades, these issues and divisions became increasingly irreconcilable and contentious.James M. McPherson, Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era (1988) ch 1-8 Events in the 1850s culminated with the election of the anti-slavery-expansion Republican Abraham Lincoln as President on November 6, 1860. This provoked the first round of state secessions as leaders of the Deep South cotton states were unwilling to remain in a second class political status with their way of life threatened by the President himself. Initially, the seven Deep South states seceded, with economies based on cotton (then in heavy European demand with rising prices). They were Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina and Texas. After the Confederates attacked and captured Fort Sumter, President Lincoln called for volunteers to march south and suppress the rebellion. This pushed the four other Upper South States (Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Arkansas) also to secede. These states completed the formation of the Confederate States of America. Their addition to the Confederacy insured a war would be prolonged and bloody because they contributed territory and soldiers. Colonial period, 1607–1775 American Revolution and Confederation period, 1776–1787 Early period under the Constitution, 1787–1811 1812 to 1849 Compromise of 1850 through 1860 election 1860 election, November 6, 1860 to fall of Fort Sumter, April 14, 1861 ; The most significant, but not quite all, notable events related to government, secession of states, actions of key individuals, and initiation of the American Civil War that occurred between November 6, 1860 and April 15, 1861 follow. Aftermath 1861: Further secessions and divisions ; Additional events related to secession and initiation of the war follow; most other events after April 15 are not listed. Several small skirmishes and battles as well as bloody riots in St. Louis and Baltimore took place in the early months of the war. The Battle of First Bull Run or Battle of First Manassas, the first major battle of the war, occurred on July 21, 1861. After that, it became clear that there could be no compromise between the Union and the seceding states and that a long and bloody war could not be avoided. All hope of a settlement short of a catastrophic war was lost. See also * Issues of the American Civil War * Battles of the American Civil War * Origins of the American Civil War * Slavery in the United States * Timeline of the African-American Civil Rights Movement Notes References * Adams, Gretchen A. Weld, Theodore Dwight. pp. 2086–2087. * Allen, W. B and John Clement Fitzpatrick, ed. George Washington: A Collection Indianapolis: Library Classics, 1989. ISBN 978-0-86597-060-1. * Blake, William O. [http://books.google.com/books?id=g213AAAAMAAJ History of Slavery and the Slave Trade, Ancient and Modern]. Columbus, Ohio: H. Miller, 1861. . Retrieved April 3, 2011. * Bateman, Newton, Paul Selby and Charles Addison Partridge, eds. [http://books.google.com/books?id=bkkWAAAAYAAJ Historical encyclopedia of Illinois]. Chicago: Munsell Publishing Company, 1903. . Retrieved April 1, 2011. * Billings, Warren The Old Dominion in the Seventeenth Century: A Documentary History of Virginia, 1606-1700. Chapel Hill: Published for the Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture, Williamsburg, Virginia, by the University of North Carolina Press, 2007. (2009). ISBN 978-0-8078-3161-8. * Bowman, John S., ed. The Civil War Almanac. New York: Facts on File, Bison Book Corp., 1982. ISBN 978-0-87196-640-7. * Briley, Ronald F. The Study Guide Amistad: A Lasting Legacy, In History Teacher Vol. 31, No. 3 (May, 1998), pp. 390–394 in JSTOR * Cluskey, ed., Michael W. [http://books.google.com/books?id=eh4TAAAAYAAJ Political Text-Book or Encyclopedia Containing Everything Necessary for the Reference of Politicians and Statesmen of the United States]. Washington, D.C.: Cornelius Wendell, 1857. . * Crowther, Edward R. Abolitionists. pp. 6–7 in Encyclopedia of the American Civil War: A Political, Social, and Military History, edited by David S. Heidler and Jeanne T. Heidler. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2000. ISBN 0-393-04758-X. * Davis, Thomas J. The New York Slave Conspiracy of 1741 as Black Protest." In ''Journal of Negro History Vol. 56, No. 1 (Jan., 1971), pp. 17–30 in JSTOR * Del Lago, Enrico. Abolitionist Movement. pp. 3–6 in Encyclopedia of the American Civil War: A Political, Social, and Military History, edited by David S. Heidler and Jeanne T. Heidler. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2000. ISBN 0-393-04758-X. * Dowdey, Clifford. The Virginia Dynasties. Boston: Little, Brown & Company, 1969. . * Du Bois, W. E. B. The Suppression of the Slave Trade to the United States of America (1904) online edition * Egerton, Douglas R. Gabriel's Conspiracy and the Election of 1800. In Journal of Southern History Vol. 56, No. 2 (May, 1990), pp. 191–214 in JSTOR * Eicher, David J. The Longest Night: A Military History of the Civil War. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2001. ISBN 0-684-84944-5. * Engs, Robert Francis. Slavery during the Civil War. In The Confederacy edited by Richard N. Current. New York: Simon and Schuster Macmillan, 1993. ISBN 978-0-02-864920-7. * Faust, Patricia L. DeBow's Review. In ''Historical Times Illustrated History of the Civil War, edited by Patricia L. Faust. New York: Harper & Row, 1986. ISBN 978-0-06-273116-6. p. 212–213. * Foner, Philip Sheldon and Robert J. Branham. [http://books.google.com/books?id=hhSFxq5ZxqEC Lift every voice: African American oratory, 1787-1900]. Tuscaloosa, AL: University of Alabama Press, 1998. ISBN 0-8173-0848-2. Retrieved May 29, 2011. * Gara, Larry. slavery. In Historical Times Illustrated History of the Civil War, edited by Patricia L. Faust. New York: Harper & Row, 1986. ISBN 978-0-06-273116-6. pp. 691–692 * Hansen, Harry. The Civil War: A History. New York: Bonanza Books, 1961. . * Heidler, David S. and Jeanne T. Heidler, eds. Encyclopedia of the American Civil War: A Political, Social, and Military History, (5 vol. W. W. Norton, 2000). ISBN 0-393-04758-X. * Kiefer, Joseph Warren. [http://books.google.com/books?id=wS4uAQAAIAAJ&pg=PR1&dq Slavery and Four Years of War: A Political History of Slavery in the United States Together with a Narrative of the Campaigns and Battles of the Civil War in Which the Author Took Part: 1861–1865], vol. 1. New York: G. Putnam's Sons, 1900. . Retrieved March 8, 2011. * Klein, Maury. Days of Defiance: Sumter, Secession, and the Coming of the Civil War. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1997. ISBN 978-0-679-44747-4. * Kolchin, Peter. American Slavery: 1619-1877, New York: Hill and Wang, 1994. ISBN 978-0-8090-2568-8. * Levy, Andrew. The First Emancipator: The Forgotten Story of Robert Carter, the Founding Father who freed his slaves. New York: Random House, 2005. ISBN 0-375-50865-1. * Lepore, Jill. New York Burning: Liberty, Slavery, and Conspiracy in Eighteenth-Century Manhattan. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2005, 2006. ISBN 978-1-4000-4029-2. * Long, E. B. The Civil War Day by Day: An Almanac, 1861–1865. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1971. . * Malone, Dumas. Jefferson and His Time: Volume Six, The Sage of Monticello. Boston: Little Brown and Company, 1981. . * McCartney, Martha W. A Study of Africans and African Americans on Jamestown Island and at Green Spring, 1619 - 1803. Williamsburg, VA: National Park Service and Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, 2003. Retrieved May 28, 2011. * McPherson, James M. Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era. Oxford History of the United States. New York: Oxford University Press, 1988. ISBN 978-0-19-503863-7. * McPherson, James M. Ordeal By Fire: The Civil War and Reconstruction. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1982. ISBN 978-0-394-52469-6. * Miller, Randall M. and John David Smith, eds. Dictionary of Afro-American Slavery. New York; London: Greenwood, 1988. ISBN 978-0-313-23814-7. * Miller, William Lee. Arguing About Slavery: John Quincy Adams and the Great Battle in the United States Congress. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1995. ISBN 0-394-56922-9. * Morris, Richard B. Encyclopedia of American History (7th ed. 1996). * Nevins, Allan. Ordeal of the Union (8 vol 1947-70). New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1947–1970. ISBN 0-684-10423-7. * Pogue, Ph.D., Dennis J. (Spring/Summer 2003). [http://alexandriava.gov/uploadedfiles/historic/haq/haqspringsummer03.pdf George Washington And The Politics of Slavery]. In Historic Alexandria Quarterly. Office of Historic Alexandria (Virginia). Retrieved January 3, 2011. * Potter, David M. completed and edited by Don E. Fehrenbacher The Impending Crisis: America Before the Civil War, 1848 – 1861. New York: Harper Perennial, reprint 2011. First published New York, Harper Colophon, 1976. ISBN 978-0-06-131929-7. * Rubin, Louis, D. Virginia, a History. New York, W. W. Norton & Company, Inc, 1977. ISBN 978-0-393-05630-3. * Russell, John Henderson. [http://books.google.com/books?id=QzB2AAAAMAAJ The free Negro in Virginia, 1619-1865]. (1913) * Santoro, Nicholas. Atlas of Slavery and Civil Rights: An Annotated Chronicle of the Passage from Slavery and Segregation to Civil Rights and Equality under the Law (iUniverse, 2006) ISBN 978-0-595-38390-0; * Schlesinger Jr., Arther M., ed. The Almanac Of American History. New York: Putnam, 1983. ISBN 978-0-399-12853-0. * Schott, Thomas E. Cornerstone Speech. In The Confederacy edited by Richard N. Current. New York: Simon and Schuster Macmillan, 1993. ISBN 978-0-02-864920-7. pp. 298–299 * Stroud, George M. A Sketch of the Laws Relating to Slavery in the Several States of the United States of America. Philadelphia: Henry Longstreth, 1856 . * Swanberg, W.A., First Blood: The story of Fort Sumter. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1957. . * Tise, Larry E. Proslavery In The Confederacy edited by Richard N. Current. New York: Simon and Schuster Macmillan, 1993. ISBN 978-0-02-864920-7. p. 866. * Varon, Elizabeth R. Disunion!: the coming of the American Civil War, 1789-1859. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2008. ISBN 978-0-8078-3232-5. * Wagner, Margaret E., Gary W. Gallagher, and Paul Finkelman. The Library of Congress Civil War Desk Reference. New York: Simon & Schuster Paperbacks, Inc., 2009 edition. ISBN 978-1-4391-4884-6. First Published 2002. * Watkins, Jr., William J. [http://books.google.com/books?id=LX397Mx4faUC Reclaiming the American Revolution: the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions and Their Legacy]. New York: Palgrave MacMillan, 2004. ISBN 1-4039-6303-7. Retrieved May 29, 2011. * Wilson, Henry. [http://books.google.com/books?id=VY0-AAAAYAAJ History of the Rise and Fall of the Slave Power in America]. 3 volumes. Volume 1. Boston: James R. Osgood and Company, 1872. . Retrieved April 13, 2011. Civil War Category:Political history of the American Civil War Category:American Civil War timelines Category:American Civil War-related lists American Civil War, Timeline of events leading to the